“Recommendation: A statement reflecting recent developments on this issue along the following lines:

“‘People who believe in equality under the law as a fundamental principle, as I do, will agree that this principle extends to gay and lesbian couples; gay and lesbian couples should not face discrimination and their relationship should be protected under the law. People who disagree on the fundamental nature of marriage can agree, at the same time, that gays and lesbians should receive essential rights and protections such as hospital visitation, adoption rights, and health and death benefits.’”

***

“You can make a case that this is a perfect example of this president as the most liberal president in history and he is systematically changing what America is about,” Brabender said. “What we are betting the ranch on is the October labor statistics, and that is a high risk. … We are playing a dangerous game by raising the stakes too high on something we have too little control of and is often in great flux, and we are bailing on talking about who we are as a country. I think that is a mistake.”…

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said Obama handed Romney and the Republican Party a gift — and both will be negligent if they don’t take advantage of it.

“The president yesterday interjected an element into this election cycle that, while some may be uncomfortable dealing with on the Republican side, could very well be a deciding factor for the election if they respond to the president’s challenge to marriage,” Perkins said. “It’s no secret the Republican leadership has not wanted to be out front waving the banner.”

***

So to figure out whether gay marriage will hurt Obama in the fall, you have to figure whether gay marriage alone is likely to block any of these five paths—that is, whether Obama is likely to receive fewer votes from these specific constituencies in these specific states than Kerry received in 2004. For that to occur, Obama would have to suffer a 32-point net loss in Latino support in Nevada; a 27-point net loss in Latino support in New Mexico; a 27-point net loss in Latino support in Florida; a 9-point net loss in black support in Virginia; a 19-point net loss in black support in North Carolina; a 12-point net loss in working-class support in Iowa; and a 5-point net loss in working-class support in Ohio.

In other words, it’s unlikely. Right now, 43 percent of Latinos—a group made up largely of the kind of younger men and women who are driving population growth in key states—approve of same-sex marriage. Among independents that number is up to 52 percent. And opposition among African-Americans has fallen 20 points since 2008. It’s hard to imagine that Obama’s personal opinion about same-sex marriage—remember, he’s not pushing any kind of federal legislation—will be such a turn-off for key demographic groups in key states that their support for the president will plummet to sub-Kerry levels come November.

***

Black voters and especially black churches have long opposed gay marriage. But the 40-year-old barber and other African-Americans interviewed in politically key states say their support for Obama remains unshaken…

Mel Brown, a 65-year-old project manager in Philadelphia, says same-sex marriage “is between them and their God. The God I serve does not agree with that.”

Does Obama’s announcement change Brown’s support for the president? “Absolutely not. Because Scripture says we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”…

Many black pastors have been reluctant to address same-sex marriage from the pulpit; the topic remains taboo in much of their community. Now, “with the president taking such a clear stand on the issue, and his being such a beloved figure and historic symbol for African-Americans, I think it will advance the conversation,” said the Rev. Raphael Warnock of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

LaBerge resigned her post as minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) after the denomination voted last year to ordain noncelibate gay clergy. She says the Bible is clear.

“From the Old Testament and throughout the New Testament, the only sexual relationships that are affirmed in scripture are those in the context of marriage between one man and one woman,” she says…

Not so fast, says the Rev. Susan Russell, an Episcopal priest at All Saints Church in Pasadena, Calif. She takes her cues from Jesus.

“Jesus never said a single word about anything even remotely connected to homosexuality,” she says.

***

This new bipartisan politics of religion is a good thing — both for religion and for politics. For several decades, the right has held a monopoly over what it means to be religious in the United States, not to mention Christian or evangelical. The result has been devastating for the image of Christianity. When the Barna Group polled Americans ages 16 to 29 on what words best describe Christianity, the top response was “anti-homosexual.” The other common associations were “judgmental,” “hypocritical” and “too involved in politics.”

It has not helped that for years, conservative politicians have explained their opposition to gay rights by simply stating, “I’m a Christian,” as if that automatically requires one to abhor the idea of same-sex marriage. Recent debates about the protection of religious freedom have assumed that the only religious motives that count are conservative ones. That’s the concept at the core of arguments about the contraception mandate, as well as a number of religious freedom bills moving through state legislatures. Enthusiasm for those efforts might well flag if religious progressives were to demand protection for their beliefs as well…

After years of pretending that the culture wars were a matter of religious views lined up against secular beliefs, politicians are recognizing what average Americans knew all along. A majority of Americans now believe that there is more than one way to get to heaven, pollsters report. Our political discussions finally reflect that there’s also more than one answer to the question: “What would Jesus do?”

***

Romney did remain consistent on one point: He said he does not intend to use President Obama’s flip-flop of same-sex marriage against him in the campaign. Obama, who opposed gay marriage when he ran for president in 2008, said this week he now supports it. Romney said, “I think the issue of marriage and gay marriage is a very tender and sensitive topic. People come out in different places on this. The president has changed course in regards to this topic. I think that’s his right to do that. I have a different view than he does. I believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman, but I just don’t think that this becomes a hot political issue dividing our nation.”

“We have said since our founding in 2009, that we are committed to defeating Barack Obama. We remain committed to Obama’s defeat. However, if Governor Romney expects to be the candidate who can beat Obama in November then he needs to embrace a strategy that makes victory possible – falling into the culture war trap laid by Obama is a guaranteed electoral loser.

“It is not too late. If Governor Romney wants to unite conservatives and motivate Tea Party voters then he needs to embrace bolder positions on taxes, entitlement reform, healthcare and spending, not pander to big government theocrats.”

You enter a world with civilizations and economies that are far from equal. Harvard University historian David Landes devoted his lifelong study to understanding why some civilizations rise, and why others falter. His conclusion was this: Culture makes all the difference. Not natural resources, not geography, but what people believe and what they value. Central to America’s rise to global leadership is our Judeo-Christian tradition, with its vision of the goodness and possibilities of every human life. The American culture promotes personal responsibility, the dignity of work, the value of education, the merit of service, devotion to a purpose greater than self, and, at the foundation, the pre-eminence of family.

The power of these values, this culture, is evidenced by a recent Brookings Institution study that Senator Rick Santorum brought to my attention. For those who graduate from high school, get a job, and marry before they have their first child, the probability that they will be poor is 2%. But, if those things are absent, 76% will be poor. Culture — what you believe, what you value, how you live — matters. Now, as fundamental as these principles are, they may become topics of democratic debate from time to time. So it is today with the enduring institution of marriage. Marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman.

Blowback

Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.

Believe it or not, most blacks vote for democrats not because they are die hard liberals, it is primarily because American conservatives(not conservatism) have nothing to offer them.

Almost all blacks vote Democrat, and they do so because they have been told to be obedient and thankful to the Dems, by their herders. Every voting block, which votes as a mindless collective is just a herd.

The modern American Conservative is very intolerant, arrogant and has an isolated mindset.

Black voting block believes that because their herders have been feeding them this stupidity for ages now. This block never as a collective tried to find out the truth .Or history. Or facts about economics.

When was the last time a far right conservative like Palin, Demint etc attempt to reach out to any minority group?

As long as these herds of voters will identify themselves as blacks, and nothing but blacks, they will never be comfortable in any setting where skin color doesn’t matter. They want to be treated as someone separate and unique all the time and make no effort to get out of their coccoon mentality. Conservatives treat everyone equally irrespective of their skin color. We don’t divide and rule. Blacks as a voting block have been trained to feel out of place when no one cares for their “blackness” because they still think of themselves not as Americans but something defined exclusively by their skin color . And are mighty proud of it too !

Their rallies are increasingly white which makes minorities uncomfortable.

yet they their loyalty is towards the party of slavery and KKK.
Being white is neither a crime nor is it illegal.
Blacks as a voting block have been marinating in their hatred for so long that they don’t even realize the result of their hatred on the whole country. They commit crimes against whites at the drop of a hat and you say that they are uncomfortable ?
When was the last time blacks as a voting block make any outreach to Americans who are not like them ?

Most African Americans are fiscal and social conservatives by heart. It’s unfortunate the new conservative movement has nothing to offer them.

Uppereastside on May 12, 2012 at 11:05 PM

The conservative movement comprises of patriotic hard working people who want to leave a better and prosperous America for the future generations . We don’t want to destroy our country, nor do we want to see it go broke and enslaved to the Chinese.
It is unfortunate that even in the 21st century, African Americans as a voting block have nothing to offer towards keeping our country solvent .
Or prosperous.
Or strong.

Most African Americans are fiscal and social conservatives by heart. It’s unfortunate the new conservative movement has nothing to offer them.

Uppereastside on May 12, 2012 at 11:05 PM

Is your first language poo poo? Think about the deposit you just left. “Blacks are fiscal and social cons by nature”—–BUT because new cons don’ lick em they revert to Obama? I don’t like Romney either but he is the better alternative.

Is this for real? It’s this easy? He destroys the economy, destroys our image around the world, expands the government a thousand fold, seizes businesses, passes ObamaCare, wrecks everything he touches but none of that matters because he said something?
JellyToast on May 12, 2012 at 10:15 PM

Words have always been enough for Obama. Words, not any kind of record (in office or prior to), not only got him elected, got people swooning over him. Words are still enough for the easily fooled.

They found a new master that will provide them with food and shelter and other benefits.

How else to explain a once vibrant community that produced George Washington Carver and Booker T. Washington and Crispus Attacks, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth and on and on.

All of that sold out now after generations of dependence on Uncle Sam the new Plantation owner. First LBJ started rolling out the dough and now nearly 50 years later (and Trillions of $$$$)…

….has it helped Black Community?

…..and BREAKING NEWS for black communities suffering from 30 or 40% unemployment. Four years from now, you’ll still be waiting for those jobs and be voting for the same failures you’ve voted for the last 40+ years.

All true, but Civil Rights Act — JFK, RFK & LBJ. And that was the most recent thing. It’s kind of a “what have you done for me, lately” mentality. The Dems were smart enough (or craven enough, depending on who you’re talking to) to jump on that opening & pander, pander, pander to lock in the voting block.

When was the last time a minority group reach out for conservatism?
You know…a movement that allows one to think….be free…set their own goals…
etc…?

You’re right…we don’t have much to offer when compared to Obama Money, 99 weeks of TV watching…. government cheese…

But somehow this lifestyle must be paid for…..

Electrongod on May 13, 2012 at 12:05 AM

You just made my feeble brain think of somepin. Ken Hamblin–aka Black Avenger said ten years ago (paraphrased) “Whites have tried to make things better and have changed things 75%. When are blacks going to recognize that”?

Progressives always use euphemisms. My guess most homosexuals are not very happy beneath the bravado. Sick of hearing about this rot, let’s move on to the main course for this reelection-Race, Race, Race. Obama will require forceful ejection from the WH if he loses, and it will be in the courts for months.

You just made my feeble brain think of somepin. Ken Hamblin–aka Black Avenger said ten years ago (paraphrased) “Whites have tried to make things better and have changed things 75%. When are blacks going to recognize that”?

arnold ziffel on May 13, 2012 at 12:22 AM

I never heard of him…
Amazingly (sarc) Wikipedia doesn’t mention his politics…
But I found out who he is…

Episcopalian. The denomination that runs their own conservatives out and sues them. Takes their churches and sells them for bars and mosques. Spends so much money suing their former members that they are living on the endowments from people who would turn in their graves if they knew how the money is being spent.

Russell is an active lesbian priestette who rewrites Scripture to justify her miserable lifestyle, who couldn’t get a real job if her life depended on it.

Shay on May 12, 2012 at 11:55 PM

lol, well funny but not, I just want to make sure your post gets moved to the next page. I think liberals are fixin to be sorry for the poop storm they have unleashed.

Progressives always use euphemisms. My guess most homosexuals are not very happy beneath the bravado. Sick of hearing about this rot, let’s move on to the main course for this reelection-Race, Race, Race. Obama will require forceful ejection from the WH if he loses, and it will be in the courts for months.

Almost all blacks vote Democrat, and they do so because they have been told to be obedient and thankful to the Dems, by their herders. Every voting block, which votes as a mindless collective is just a herd.

Once again, statements like these only come from condescending and arrogant conservatives. They know it all.
Minorities are growing as a percentage of the overall voting electorate so bashing them as a bunch of mindless herd who blame all their problems on poor white conservatives is a perfect strategy.

Remember the Bush-Gore nightmare. You can bet that racial discrimination will be claimed if he loses and until the matter is settled by the courts, he probably can stay put. Pray for a landslide, because if it is anywhere near close, it will go to court.

There is a tale of a liberal pastor in a congregation having a Bible study with several of his parishioners. They reached a point in a discussion and he wanted to point to a passage in scripture, unfortunately, he had left his bible in his office, so he asked one of the ladies in the group to borrow hers. She handed it to him, and to his consternation, he saw that it had only a few pages in it and even on those pages, some parts clipped out. He asked the woman why her bible was in such condition. She replied, “Well Pastor, I’ve been coming to your bible studies for years as you know. Very often, we would get to a particular passage and you would state that, ‘well, that’s not really what God meant and was only placed in the Bible by men who didn’t really understand that’. Whenever you said that, I would go home and cut out that page or passage, because I don’t want a Bible that has things that aren’t God’s words in them”.

Methinks the Rev Susan would have a lot of parishioners with near empty bibles if they all did that after listening to her.

Remember the Bush-Gore nightmare. You can bet that racial discrimination will be claimed if he loses and until the matter is settled by the courts, he probably can stay put. Pray for a landslide, because if it is anywhere near close, it will go to court.

kenny on May 13, 2012 at 12:41 AM

I remember it well, could not take my eyes off of the television. I didn’t think things like that happened in America!!

Once again, statements like these only come from condescending and arrogant conservatives. They know it all.

Really ?
You have any proof that almost 98% of black voters did not vote for Obama?
Can you prove that blacks as a voting block do not vote for Democrats ?
Can you prove that Democrats have not been cultivating blacks as their voting block ?
Why don’t you prove your point with proof and evidence , rather than resort to flinging feces in desperation ?

Minorities are growing as a percentage of the overall voting electorate so bashing them as a bunch of mindless herd who blame all their problems on poor white conservatives is a perfect strategy.

Uppereastside on May 13, 2012 at 12:41 AM

As I said, can you prove it ?
Prove that minorities are not a mindless herd of Democratic voters.
Prove that minorities who vote as a herd for Democrats do not blame whites or conservatives for everything.
You do not need to prove that minorities are growing in numbers, but why wouldn’t they ? It’s not like they have to provide for their families when there is the white man who needs to be sucked dry , for social justice ofcourse !

Can’t say I have. My username started as a goof on 0bama czar fetish — he said he wanted to appoint a “salmon czar” to be in charge of our nation’s pressing salmon problems.

salmonczar on May 13, 2012 at 12:33 AM

HELLO!
…not to disappoint anyone…but JugEars appointed Cameron Davis, a buddy from Chicago as “The Great Lakes” czar six months after the media tricked the American people into Hope&Change… for that purpose. (saving the salmon)!

Don’t laugh at my question, o.k.. If the King loses and there is no disputing the numbers, can our military remove him?

JPeterman on May 13, 2012 at 12:43 AM

No laugh, you are a serious person. They could but I don’t think it would come to that. What worries me is the media, the lack of resolve from the repupnoballs. I am more worried about his executive orders and blanket pardons.Trouble Mr.Peterman

The Dems were smart enough (or craven enough, depending on who you’re talking to) to jump on that opening & pander, pander, pander to lock in the voting block.

Dark Star on May 13, 2012 at 12:14 AM

Sure, but there has to be an audience. There will always be people who are too stupid, lazy, infantile, whathaveyou to understand or care that they are trading one master for another whether it be the white plantation owner or the government.

Just like women who trade the “patriarchy” for the state. Which is better?

But it sure is nice having “someone else” to do the heavy thinking and just follow along, eh?

Those people have a choice. They don’t have to take the government largesse and can walk away. They CHOOSE not to.

That’s the thing that keeps me gladly being a conservative – if I fail, it’s because *I* failed not because I was put in that situation by my overlord.

Once again, statements like these only come from condescending and arrogant conservatives. They know it all.
Minorities are growing as a percentage of the overall voting electorate so bashing them as a bunch of mindless herd who blame all their problems on poor white conservatives is a perfect strategy.

Uppereastside on May 13, 2012 at 12:41 AM

What if it’s the truth? Should we all ignore the truth because it’s unpleasant? Should we tell lies because it makes someone feel good?

Of course you are a liberal and it’s all about feeling good, not about the truth or reality.

Go take your wares of pandering elsewhere. You’ll have no buyers here.

If the King loses and there is no disputing the numbers, can our military remove him?

JPeterman on May 13, 2012 at 12:43 AM

Hypothetical :
When ( not if ) that happens , what do you think our Generals and majority of their troops will do ?
A. Do the right thing and act according to their oath to our Constitution
or
B. Surround the king to protect him and keep him in power for ever

Upper…I don’t know if your handle means you are from nyc…but here’s the racial situation in purist blue NYC…Flatbush to be exactly.

Looks like you libs/progs are doing a great job! (what was it that Jesus said about planks in the eye?)

It’s a bit weird,” Amiyah said of the school’s racial composition. “All my friends are predominantly black, and all the teachers are predominantly white. I think white kids go to different schools. I don’t know. I haven’t seen many white people in a big space before.”

Would it be better if it were integrated?

“I think they would stop calling me white girl if there were white kids,” she said. “Because my skin is a little lighter and I can’t dance, they call me that. Some of them can’t dance, either.”

What else?

“I could talk the way I talk.”

Other students speak street slang that she repudiates: “They will say to me, ‘You are so white.’ I tell them, I have two black parents. Do I look white?”

She had been having trouble making friends. This year, her mother noticed a speech change. “She’s slacking off more to fit in,” Ms. Kingston said. “She’s saying: ‘I been there.’ ‘I done that.’ ”

Amiyah confirmed this: “I speak a bit more freelance with my friends. Not full sentences. I don’t use big words. They hate it when I do that.”

She said she had become more popular.

Other students also relate the use of parlance linked to skin color. Shakeare Cobham, one of Amiyah’s friends, said: “If you’re darker, they’ll call them burnt. Light-skinned ones get called white.”

Amiyah’s parents are bothered by the abundance of white teachers. Her mother said: “What do they know of our lives? They may be good teachers, but what do they know? You’re coming from Milwaukee. You went to Harvard. Her dad complains about this all the time — what can they bring to these African-American kids? I’m trying to keep an open mind. I’m happy with the education.”

Amiyah said, “The white teachers can’t relate as much to us no matter how hard they try — and they really try.”

Guess who was blocking it? Southern Democrats. George Wallace was a Democrat.

John the Libertarian on May 13, 2012 at 12:18 AM

True. But facts don’t matter, the narrative does. And the Dems sold the narrative that the Dems care about the AA voters. AAs who can see that the “care” is a bunch of paternalistic horsesh!t (West, Cain, etc) are some of the strongest voices in the GOP, but it isn’t enough to break the fairy tale — in time it may be, but not yet and especially not with the first black POTUS being a Dem. Make no mistake, Obama giving that “red state, blue state” b.s. speech at the convention before he was even elected to the US Senate was no coincidence — he was plucked out of obscurity & groomed for exactly this purpose — keeping the AA block voting Dem.

…come on a z …liberals attention spans are good for 1 to 3 months…that’s not fair!…ask Upyerassideways why officials in Richmond, Virginia were trying to ignore the beating of those two employees of the local newspaper instead…by a gang of ‘children’…

Just like women who trade the “patriarchy” for the state. Which is better?

But it sure is nice having “someone else” to do the heavy thinking and just follow along, eh?

Those people have a choice. They don’t have to take the government largesse and can walk away. They CHOOSE not to.

That’s the thing that keeps me gladly being a conservative – if I fail, it’s because *I* failed not because I was put in that situation by my overlord.

kim roy on May 13, 2012 at 12:59 AM

Technically, the patriarchy is the state, so I don’t really get the point you are making there. If you mean a lot of women mistakenly think they are trading in the patriarchy but aren’t, then yes.

And yes, you are right, there has to be an audience to buy it. That is how pandering works — if no one but it, it wouldn’t be pandering. But the bigger thing, IMO, is the tribalism — it is hard to leave the tribe when you have always been a part of it (and voting for it), as were your parents, your grandparents, your neighbors, your friends, etc. You follow along in large part because that is how “it has always been.”

I certainly didn’t mean to imply the audience doesn’t share responsibility for buying into to it and not questioning it, but I do believe there is more at work here.

It’s a bit weird,” Amiyah said of the school’s racial composition. “All my friends are predominantly black, and all the teachers are predominantly white. I think white kids go to different schools. I don’t know. I haven’t seen many white people in a big space before.”

Would it be better if it were integrated?

“I think they would stop calling me white girl if there were white kids,” she said. “Because my skin is a little lighter and I can’t dance, they call me that. Some of them can’t dance, either.”

What else?

“I could talk the way I talk.”

Other students speak street slang that she repudiates: “They will say to me, ‘You are so white.’ I tell them, I have two black parents. Do I look white?”

She had been having trouble making friends. This year, her mother noticed a speech change. “She’s slacking off more to fit in,” Ms. Kingston said. “She’s saying: ‘I been there.’ ‘I done that.’ ”

this is from flatbush, nyc…center of all things lib/prog

see, no race problems there among the leftists…none

to bad upper doesn’t help people rather than waste time trash talking other people

Thanks for sparing a little change to the lazy black guy. Unfortunately you will continue sparing some change whether you like it or not. At least until you and your crony right wing politians get yout arrogant heads out of the sand to address the wealth inequality in this country.

Brabender said. “What we are betting the ranch on is the October labor statistics, and that is a high risk. … We are playing a dangerous game by raising the stakes too high on something we have too little control of and is often in great flux, and we are bailing on talking about who we are as a country. I think that is a mistake.”

He’s correct, but not just from a strategic point. This election is not about the economy – good or bad. It’s about the feral government feasting on the Constitution and defecating on the individual liberties of the citizens.

Our biggest problem is not the economy but the monetary system. There is a huge difference between the two. Unfortunately, that difference got swept under the rug during that fiasco that was TARP (Congress had the responsibility to protect the monetary system, which TARP was allegedly about, though never used for, at all) but they do NOT have the Constitutional power to muck around in the economy all they want.

Economies are periodic animals, as all things in the world are. Only the perpetual motion machine idiots of the left believe that some central authority could actually hold back the periodicity of nature and provide a constantly growing economy with no setbacks ever. That is unnatural and allows for the overgrowth of brittle, poorly constructed companies that only make money in good times and turn belly-up (and then some) at the first whiff of a downturn. You have to have recessions every so often to clean out these fast-growth weeds that, if allowed to continue by monetary policy that strives to never let a fire burn through the forest, will choke off every bit of solid, old-growth, stable companies (which cannot compete since they put something aside for a rainy day, which makes them less attractive when the economy is constantly goosed to only go up).

This election is NOT about the economy. It’s about America and what this nation is. It’s about getting some semblance of the Rule Of Law back into a sick nation that has officially confirmed that empathy is a legitimate main qualification for a judge or justice (in opposition to over 3 millenia of Western jurisprudence – the Torah says, Exodus 23:3 “neither shalt thou favor a poor man in his cause”). Millenia of Western tradition was just tossed aside like so much waste. That is permanent damage that many don’t even comprehend the extent of, now. THAT is what is at stake in this election.

2012: Barky the Dog-Eater vs. America

That is what this election is about. Not the economy. It’s about America – the American creed – and whether it will be given the tiniest chance to survive. The economy is a side issue. Use it, for sure, but it is NOT the basis of the choice in 2012.

Thanks for sparing a little change to the lazy black guy. Unfortunately you will continue sparing some change whether you like it or not. At least until you and your crony right wing politians get yout arrogant heads out of the sand to address the wealth inequality in this country.

What a beautiful, perfect question. So many come as challenges, but I’m a warrior who has put away her M60 and only shrugs at war. Back in Chicago there was this Irish-American kid in an ill-fitting suit who stood on the corner of 47th & King shaking hands (one of them mine) and asking would we consider voting for him.

Republican. Ill-fitting suit.

With help from about 30 percent of South Side Chicago, Jack O’Malley became Cook County State’s Attorney.

At least until you and your crony right wing politciians get yot arrogant heads out of the sand to address the wealth inequality in this country.

Uppereastside on May 13, 2012 at 2:37 AM

OK, I’ll bite…

… The best way to make wealth in this Country is to start your own business, but learning how to spell might come first.

What is the first step…?

… I know, I went to school, I read the books, I did the work, I learned, I sacrificed, I got up early in the morning, I worked two jobs to get start up capital, I did the research, I failed, then I got back up, only to fail again, but not so bad, then I broke even, then I started turning a profit.

What’s your magical social engineering answer that works time, and time, and time again…?

Bill Clinton was up for re-election. I mean come on. Who on Chicago South Side didn’t love Big Bill???

I heard a snippet on Fox News from VP Nominee Jack Kemp. Yeah, he had spoken about minority small businesses before but WOW! He sounded serious. He was serious enough to actually come to Chicago South Side like Jack O’Malley (now a Judge) did before him.

I was pleased with his visit, but wrote him afterward, ‘I very much want to vote for you, Mr. Kemp, but where is nominee (Bob) Dole?’ Jack Kemp wrote me back–in tonnage. Okay, exaggeration, but I cherish the lovely letters and attendant reams of paperwork referencing Mr. Kemp’s ideas for city business “Empowerment Zones”. I love Jack Kemp for showing he did care.

I care about the economy. About gay marriage, not so much. The economy? It affects my life profoundly. Gay marriage? Not so much.

Obama and his WH have screwed up the economy. He doesn’t care so much about the responsibilities of the Presidency as he does about its perks. That is why I will not vote for him.

I don’t really get why people are so up in arms about the gay issue. It affects the quality of your life, how? The economy is what affects your life, not some bunch of poor bastards that decided that they were attracted to the same sex, in a society that mostly doesn’t seem to care for their ilk.

And if you say it’s for your kids, well, the cat has been let out of the bag. A long time ago. Really, nothing can be done about it at this point. Marriage or not, your kids are still going to see gay couples on the streets. The best you can do is explain your disapproval to them, and hope they get it.

If there are any disenfranchised or disenchanted minority voters out there, it’s important to reach out to them with a conservative message. But black voters have to look inwards as well. Admitting there is a problem is the first step, as they say. I can’t tell them what they want to hear, only what I believe works. The rest is up to them.

NOTE: Is there any way to shut off the damn auto refresh, so that after typing 2 or 3 paragraphs I don’t lose everything I typed???

Nice try at sounding so well …. wise about the herds. Problem with your logic is that the majority of whites go for the GOP. You just like to use the term herd as a replacement word for other things you would like to say.
Your implication that the black citizens are mindless drones controlled by the Democratic party is as childish and much more revealing of what you really seem to think about black citizens.

Remember the Bush-Gore nightmare. You can bet that racial discrimination will be claimed if he loses and until the matter is settled by the courts, he probably can stay put. Pray for a landslide, because if it is anywhere near close, it will go to court.

kenny on May 13, 2012 at 12:41 AM

If the election’s close, and Romney is declared the winner, 0bama will be the first president to refuse to leave the White House unless all his appeals are exhausted and his lawyers tell him to. Romney will have to set up shop in a D.C. office building.

i know that sounds extreme, but everything I have seen of the man shows that he is lawless, and does not respect American tradition.

That’s not what he’s saying, at all. He’s saying that conservativism isn’t tailored to any group for a bunch of votes. That’s true. American conservativism is about fidelity to our Constitutional structure and the American creed, not offering goodies to some group for temporary votes. It’s about a concept of the nation. You cannot “bring” anyone to that view. They have to come of their own volition.

As to his herd comments. That is an apt and accurate description for those who move and act in collectives – say voting 90% the same way. Some say “herd”, some say “tribalism”. Both are accurate and without any derogatory connotation, beyond the political stupidity of such actions. Europeans are essentially tribalists – always have been – as is easily reflected in their governing structures (collectivist, party-oriented, concentrated and unlimited powers of their governments) and the way they vote. Most of the world is ensconced in tribalism. It is America that has always stood out in being individualistic. But Dems don’t like that. They want to impress and secure the same sort of tribalistic nonsense, here. It’s how the dems operate. It’s what they’re all about.

Conservativism is not about picking out any group and trying to tailor some special rules to get votes from them. That is destructive and stupid. And wrong. It’s about a governing philosophy that applies to all individual citizens. All are to be addressed as adults, the same way, not offered candy like children. Everyone is welcome in conservative circles, but they have to come because they believe in the correctness of the American Constitutional structure and the concept of America, not because they were enticed with a few goodies.

I don’t really get why people are so up in arms about the gay issue. It affects the quality of your life, how? The economy is what affects your life, not some bunch of poor bastards that decided that they were attracted to the same sex, in a society that mostly doesn’t seem to care for their ilk.

sage0925 on May 13, 2012 at 4:44 AM

Because the economy and culture are linked. You cannot have a stable and sane economy if the participants in that economy are not themselves stable and sane. The problem with both the culture and the economy is corruption. A society that has lost self-control in its cultural matters will not be able to exercise self-control in its fiscal matters. Or it’s political matters.

You have to see that the real problem with the economy stems from the real problem in the culture in a lack of moral restraints. The corruption of virtues.

It’s not about evangelicals. You’re missing the point entirely. I don’t care who runs the university; evangelicals, scientologists, atheists, whoever. Giving a speech at ANY VENUE that believes your religion is a cult and a force of evil is just strange. I’m sure he did it for the politics but on a personal level, it must feel a little strange. It’s like giving a speech a factory that produces t-shirts that say “Mormons are Evil”.

SnarkVader on May 12, 2012 at 10:24 PM

LOL, yes, of course. So Romney’s going to be left with giving speeches to Mormon and Jewish groups.

90%+ of blacks are democrat voting automatons. If Obama governed like a conservative republican in his first term but maintained that he was a loyal democrat, blacks would still vote for him at nearly the same rate. It must be nice for the DNC to have a voting bloc so loyal that there is no limit to how much they can p*ss on them with their policies – they will reflexively continue to vote D.

Oh yeah, I also lived on the Upper East Side. I moved out after 6 months – it was pretty lame. It’s basically just fratboy central for 20-something’s with entry level jobs.

And you’d be wrong. It’s bizarre that the Romney family would give Harvard all that money, but Harvard is Harvard. They wanted the degree prestige.
SnarkVader on May 12, 2012 at 9:50 PM
No, I’d probably be right. I don’t think you’d make it a point of snark, since evangelicals are such easier targets. Liberty asked him to speak, I assume, and I assume Romney accepted…and so I assume he’s comfortable with it. Next?
ddrintn on May 12, 2012 at 9:54 PM

How about this? Maybe Mitt ( unlike our panderer in chief) really does care about trying to unify people, even in the face of people that might think he belongs to a cult.
I’d much rather see this than the phony “light Worker” dividing us over any topic just so he can be reelected by bearing false witness against his opponants. EG: if you are against gay marriage you hate gays. If you are against illegal immigration you hate brown people. If you are for welfare reform you hate minorities.

I like many of my conservative peers do not hate anyone, but only ask for the opportunity to offer my oppinion without being slandered.

Mitt seems to really be holding a real Olive branch rather than backhanded bitter “ride in the back / car in the ditch” platitudes.

90%+ of blacks are democrat voting automatons. If Obama governed like a conservative republican in his first term but maintained that he was a loyal democrat, blacks would still vote for him at nearly the same rate. It must be nice for the DNC to have a voting bloc so loyal that there is no limit to how much they can p*ss on them with their policies – they will reflexively continue to vote D.

Oh yeah, I also lived on the Upper East Side. I moved out after 6 months – it was pretty lame. It’s basically just fratboy central for 20-something’s with entry level jobs.

The Count on May 13, 2012 at 7:51 AM

I know a prominent black couple who are pretty conservative. They voted for Obama. The still support Obama although he opposes everything they say they believe in. This same couple want nothing to do with George Washington or the founders because they owned slaves. They refused to participate in a conversation about our founding principles because it involved things about George Washington.

What happened was, a friend of mine was in a restaurant with this couple, the conversation moved towards politics and when he began discussing the ideas of George Washington, this couple got up and left the table because “George Washington owned slaves.”

OK,…. on the one hand they support a Marxist (who wants to enslave an entire nation today) for no other reason that I could discern except that he was black, while at the same time rejecting the liberty ideology of another man, that being George Washington, because he owned a few slaves over 200 years ago.

This is what we are dealing with. Who really were the racists at this table? The couple who supported the ideas of a man or the couple that supported the skin color of another one?

Maybe you should remind them that they owe their very freedom to the Republican Party – that Democrats stood in steadfast opposition to abolition and integration. That same Democrat Party is now telling them that there is no difference between the illegality of homosexual marriages in most places and being forced to use different public bathrooms and water fountains on the basis that they’re black. When can we get Obama on record to see if he agrees with this comparison?

Nice try at sounding so well …. wise about the herds. Problem with your logic is that the majority of whites go for the GOP. You just like to use the term herd as a replacement word for other things you would like to say.

Is voting for GOP illegal ?
Is being white illegal ?
What is about the Dems that makes the black voting block behave like a herd?
What do you think is the replacement word for herd, which I don’t want to say but you know?

Your implication that the black citizens are mindless drones controlled by the Democratic party is as childish and much more revealing of what you really seem to think about black citizens.

Bradky on May 13, 2012 at 5:53 AM

Implication ?
It’s not an implication, I ‘m stating it as a fact.
We know about it,
and Dems count on it .
This voting block never fails to act exactly the way it is trained to act.
Prove otherwise.

That’s not what he’s saying, at all. He’s saying that conservativism isn’t tailored to any group for a bunch of votes. That’s true. American conservativism is about fidelity to our Constitutional structure and the American creed, not offering goodies to some group for temporary votes. It’s about a concept of the nation. You cannot “bring” anyone to that view. They have to come of their own volition.

As to his herd comments. That is an apt and accurate description for those who move and act in collectives – say voting 90% the same way. Some say “herd”, some say “tribalism”. Both are accurate and without any derogatory connotation, beyond the political stupidity of such actions.

ThePrimordialOrderedPair on May 13, 2012 at 7:14 AM

Come on, give Bradky some credit here. His concern about lumping Dem constituencies into “herds” is so…sweet, isn’t it? I mean it has that “some of my best friends are black” feel to it and everything, like some middle-aged white goofball trying to show how cool he is. Of course, Bradky does demand that we inbred moron anti-Mormon drooling bigots down in the South get in that pro-Romney herd immediately, and if you dare dispute his Bill Maherish views on Palin, he’ll expel you from the approved “herd” quicker than you can say “squish”.

You are simply a bigot. Blacks used to vote heavily republican until Johnson delivered the Civil Rights Act. No surprise a certain loyalty moved them to the Democrat column just as Lincoln had influenced them to the Republican cause many years.

In normal elections the black citizens tend to vote for white candidates at about 80%. Only Obama pulled a 95% vote — we’ll see what 2012 looks like. But it is a person’s right to vote as they see fit irregardless.

Your mewly whining about herds and tribes is simply a call to have this demographic follow a different herd… namely the one you support.

ddrintn on May 13, 2012 at 9:14 AM

Is there any sentence that you utter that doesn’t have the name Palin in it? It is like people who end their statements with “praise” God or “amen” or “you know”.
For DDRINTN it is “Palin my rock”….

You are simply a bigot. Blacks used to vote heavily republican until Johnson delivered the Civil Rights Act. No surprise a certain loyalty moved them to the Democrat column just as Lincoln had influenced them to the Republican cause many years.

Sorry, goofy White Soul Brother, but I think they probably jumped the ol’ GOP ship during the FDR years. But your protective paternalism toward them is moving in the extreme, it has to be said. Deeply moving. You keep sniffing for those bigots now, y’heah?

ddrintn on May 13, 2012 at 9:14 AM

Is there any sentence that you utter that doesn’t have the name Palin in it? It is like people who end their statements with “praise” God or “amen” or “you know”.
For DDRINTN it is “Palin my rock”….

Get a life my obsessed friend.

Bradky on May 13, 2012 at 9:42 AM

Got on. And I can utter many, many sentences without mentioning Palin. It’s just that when you’re addressing HA’s own miniature, cheap version of Bill Maher, the topic of Palin IS going to come up.

“Not so fast, says the Rev. Susan Russell, an Episcopal priest at All Saints Church in Pasadena, Calif. She takes her cues from Jesus.
“Jesus never said a single word about anything even remotely connected to homosexuality,” she says.”

How does she know? And, more importantly, would He not support our Father?
I guess the polytheistic Greeks had a better idea, eh? /sarc
Lame, lame, lame.

“It has not helped that for years, conservative politicians have explained their opposition to gay rights by simply stating, “I’m a Christian,” as if that automatically requires one to abhor the idea of same-sex marriage.” – Amy Sullivan, WaPo

Ya … So?
It quite clearly delineates the decline of religion as a moral compass.Structural change comes slowly and from within. The homosexers should have begun with “civil unions” (i.e., contracts) which are honored by our legal system. By taking this all-or-nothing approach, homosexers only further marginalize themselves. Baby steps … baby steps lead to walking, running, and being HUMAN.
Besides, Episcopalians are Lite-Catholic-Lite and few take them seriously. They might as well identify with the Unitarians – anything goes as long as it feels good. Good luck with that.
IF the “party” weren’t so vile and obscene, in every civilized society on the planet, the American public would view, and be repulsed by, the behavior of those who think that the Freemont Street Fair in San Fransisco is a sign of “empowerment”.
If you’ve never seen the images of the paraphiliacs run wild in America’s version of Sodom & Gomorrah, see them just once and then tell me that’s “normal”.(have a vomit bag at the ready)
~(Ä)~

Funny how you ignore that numerically there are far more whites living off the dole than blacks or hyphenated Americans you despise so.

Bradky on May 13, 2012 at 9:43 AM

Funny how you seem to be ignorant of the fact that raw numbers in themselves aren’t quite as clear a picture as proportions of a whole…and that there are plenty of cool and groovy blacks who aren’t afraid of pointing that out as well.